He was abducted by his father Farokh Mahmodpour during a contact visit

A Sheffield mum whose young son was snatched eight years ago by her ex and taken to Iran fears she will never see him again after learning the boy’s father has died.

The last time Tina Kayani, aged 47, saw her son Cole Louis Saheb was in March 2018 when he was two years old.

He was abducted by his father Farokh Mahmodpour during a contact visit and it is understood that the little boy was taken to Iran to live with his father, aunt and grandmother.

The last time Tina Kayani, 47, saw her son Cole Louis Saheb was in March 2018 | Iconic

placeholder image — The last time Tina Kayani, 47, saw her son Cole Louis Saheb was in March 2018 | Iconic

Farokh, also known as “Freddie”, would send Tina photos of Cole via Whatsapp each year - however this stopped around the time of her son’s seventh birthday in July 2023.

In December of that year Tina was shocked to learn that Farokh had died.

He died at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, where he was being held, of leukaemia.

Speaking to The Star this week in the hope of revitalising an appeal for information about the whereabouts of her son, Tina said she felt “let down” by the justice system, adding: “I feel like my chances of getting him back now are very slim.”

It is understood that Cole had been living at an unknown location in Iran with his father, aunt and grandmother | Iconic

She said: “I want him back.

“I know he’s being taken care of but I’m worried about him and I want him back - he’s got no dad and no mum. I want him to know that I’m here.”

Farokh was due to be sentenced for child abduction at Sheffield Crown Court in December 2023 - the month after he died.

A clinical reviewer concluded the care he received in jail was “equivalent” to that he could have expected in the community.

Tina described how she found out Farokh was back in the UK when he called her from a prison phone.

On the last day she saw Cole she said 'I love you, have a good time with daddy' before letting him go to his contact session | Iconic

She said: “He’d ended up in Wormwood Scrubs. So when he rang me, he was like ‘please, please please, get me out, get me out’.

“I thought, ‘are you having a laugh?’ and that’s when he told me ‘I’ve left him at home’.

“He was crying and saying he was poorly and I didn’t know what to say to him because it was a shock. I think he wanted me to drop the charges so that he could get out.”

In December 2024 Tina realised Farokh had died when she saw a photo of him with “RIP” on Facebook.

It is now three years since Tina received any news about her son.

She said: “I haven’t heard from my solicitors or the Foreign Office in four years. I feel like the justice system has let me down - I want them to find Cole.

“If Freddie died in prison then where did his body go? I need answers, if he has died I want to know where he is now because that could lead us to Cole.”

However as the years go by the mum-of-three worries that the gulf of time further loosens the bond between the two.

Farokh returned to Iran before Cole was born, leaving his mother to give birth and raise her son singlehandedly for the first four months | Iconic

She said: “Christmases and birthdays are really hard and my family has just forgotten. It’s like he’s been forgotten. But in my heart he hasn’t.

“How can you take a baby from its mother, raise him and then come back to England on your own and die? Basically Cole’s left without parents because he doesn’t know who I am.

“All I imagine he knows is that his dad died. I want to know who’s looking after him - apparently its Freddie’s mum and sister but I don’t even know their names.”

Tina started a six-year relationship with Farokh while he was working in takeaways before splitting in 2015 when she became pregnant.

Farokh returned to Iran before Cole was born, leaving his mother to give birth and raise her son singlehandedly for the first four months.

However, he then returned to Sheffield and was granted contact visits with the child through the courts, with a ban on him leaving the country with the boy.

They started through a mediation centre before he was then allowed to spend two nights a week with him.

She had been concerned that Farokh would try to take Cole, but was assured that it would not be possible for him to leave the country without a passport.

On the last day she saw Cole she said 'I love you, have a good time with daddy' before letting him go to his contact session.

Letters later unearthed at Farokh's house revealed that he had been planning the abduction for a year.